NCL applauds I.M.P. and Ticketfly agreement to reduce service fees

Washington, DC - The National Consumers League (NCL) today applauded the announcement by I.M.P. and Ticketfly that their agreement to offer primary ticketing services at the Merriweather Post Pavillion amphitheatre in Columbia, Maryland with result in up to 30 percent lower service fees on tickets.

NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer organization, has made the reduction in service fees a primary goal of its efforts to promote affordability and transparency for consumers in the live event marketplace. “At a time when consolidation in the industry leaves little hope for consumer benefit, it is encouraging to see independent venues and ticketing services working together to lower these service fees,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. “Consumers are rightfully fed up with outrageously expensive fees that are all too often tacked on to the face value of a ticket. We are happy to see that I.M.P. and Ticketfly agree with the vast majority of consumers who think that being charged extra to print out a ticket on their own printer with their own ink is inexcusable.”

NCL and I.M.P. chairman Seth Hurwitz recently worked together with other consumer, antitrust, and industry groups to oppose the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. Despite a huge outpouring of consumer opposition, the U.S. Department of Justice ultimately approved that merger with conditions.

“If the DOJ is not going to stand in the way of the new live event industry colossus, consumers will increasingly look to creative arrangements between independent actors like I.M.P. and Ticketfly to put a check on the seemingly unstoppable increase in ticket prices,” said Greenberg.

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About the National Consumers League

Founded in 1899, the National Consumers League is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Its mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.